About Town

About Town: Holiday Craft Fair Supports LABBB Collaborative (PHOTOS)

Promotes and supports Best Buddies friendship program.

  The halls of Lexington High are usually empty on weekends. Last Saturday, however, they were filled with crafters, LABBB Collaborative teachers and students and Best Buddies, all there for the second annual Holiday Craft Fair. Most around here know LABBB is an acronym for the award-winning collaborative school that officially includes: Lexington, Arlington, Bedford, Burlington and Belmont. The five communities are part of a consortium that teaches children with special needs from childhood until they are 22-years-old.    The craft fair benefited LABBB's Best Buddies, a program that pairs students with peers from the collaborative communities, and was organized by LABBB Workshop Training Center Supervisor Janet Paz. Rebecca Borja of …

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About Town

About Town: Lexington Youths Rake for Costa Rica

Lexington youth bag leaves to raise money.

Last year, Jonas Clarke Middle School students visited Costa Rica for a Spanish immersion program. Some might say, even though they are thousands of miles from the country, they are still part of that Costa Rican community.   Joe Blumberg, almost 15 and now a Lexington High School student, spoke about the experience and why they are raking leaves. Yes, raking leaves.   While in Costa Rica for 10 days last March, the students spent part of the day at school and the remainder on excursions. Those field trips brought them to a school in a less-than-affluent area with students who needed a little help getting rudimentary educational objects and equipment.   One afternoon during that visit, the Lexington youths painted an outside wall of the …

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About Town

About Town: Civil Rights Discussed in Lexington

Lexington Civil Rights Commission takes stock almost four decades later.

Andy Booth took a breath and tried composing himself before speaking to the crowd at Cary Memorial Hall. He hesitated, began talking and caught his breath a few times, forcing away tears held back for decades.        Booth haltingly recounted the story of his educational journey from Boston into and the Lexington School System. The crowd of about 100, gathered yesterday afternoon for Civil Rights in Lexington: Challenge and Change, heard about the differences between the rudimentary education in Boston and the academic challenges he found here. Through his and a teacher’s honesty over a simple mistake, he found his way into the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity or METCO. “I never … thanked him,” Booth said of the teacher who…

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About Town

About Town: Lexington Historical Society's 3rd Annual Golf Tourney (PHOTOS)

The rain and traffic took a detour, making this another successful event.

More than 60 golfers participated in the Lexington Historical Society’s 3rd Annual Golf Tournament, held at Lexington Golf Club Monday, Oct. 3. The day was planned from early morning registration to after dinner desert, but even the best plans sometimes hold a glitch. Ours started at 9 a.m., at the end of Hill Street. Orange cones and a nice young cadet named Corazzini told us we couldn’t get onto Hill Street to the Golf Club. “Take Manning,” he said. But there were no detour signs, and we had a bevy of golfers arriving in little more than an hour. Fortunately, I was able to ring Police Capt. Joseph O’Leary to ask if there was anything they could do. The Lexington Police are here to protect and serve. I’m pretty sure this runs outside the …

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About Town

About Town: Another Active Weekend (PHOTOS)

Scenes from the East Village Fair and mentions of the model miniatures and Hastings Harvest 5K.

Lexington was certainly busy this weekend – as Patrick warned us last Friday. My plans included attending the East Lexington Fair, the Hastings Harvest 5K and the Model Miniatures at the museum. Plans change like the weather and I spent most of Saturday at the 172nd East Lexington Fair.  I saw friends, spent money, enjoyed watching the children try and toss a ring over a funny looking squash, saw the biggest pumpkin ever, missed getting soup (served by Fred Johnson) and generally had a great time.  The closest I came to the Hastings event was seeing what looked like a registration table and sign outside the sports store on Massachusetts Avenue. Rain or shine the East Lexington Fair goes on – and on. Blue tarps and white tents covered and …

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About Town: Friday in the Center

It's always lively in town.

Walking through Lexington Center on a warm fall day is like being at a large party – one that starts at the Battle Green and ends at Dunkin' Donuts on Woburn Street. I was there to help the Lexington Historical Society’s Program and Events Committee stuff goody bags for the golfers for the upcoming Oct. 3 tournament at Lexington Golf Club. By the time I arrived Chairman Carolann Brockett and other committee members already had the bags filled and ready. A day late and a dollar short. Had I remembered my husband borrowed my car, that telehone call to Harrison Global Transportation would have occurred lot earlier... Instead, I helped pull apart a few tables, chatted with members and headed out the door toward Sweet Beads to see Co-owner and …

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About Town: Lexington's Historic Houses Open

There's still plenty of time to visit the Buckman and Munroe taverns and Hancock-Clarke Parsonage this fall season.

Lexington's three historic houses are open every day through Sunday, Oct. 30, Jane Morse, publicity director for Lexington's Historical Society, told Patch this week. Buckman Tavern, across from the Battle Green offers visitors a peek into our past and shows where the colonial militia gathered as they waited for the British Army. Hancock-Clarke Parsonage is where two of our most important reverends resided. Between the two they led the faithful for about a century. Munroe Tavern, taken over during the Revolution by Earl Percy and made into a hospital for injured British soldiers, was recently renovated and worth a repeat visit. A grand re-opening ceremony was held recently after a major restoration project. Lexington has so much history to…

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About Town

About Town: A Nine Month Party

Celebrating Lexington's 300th.

Maria Hasting’s Elementary School library was packed last Monday night with interesting books and equally interesting people. An overly large 300-year-old spinning wheel fittingly sat atop one of the bookcases as the Lexington 300thAnniversary Committee held a public meeting to announce plans for the upcoming 9-month celebration and ask for further ideas to round out the party that starts in Sept. 2012 and ends on Memorial Day 2013. Eric Carlson, from Lexington Coin brought the spinning wheel, along with a large clock, each number covered with a letter that spelled LEXINGTON 300. Lexington’s Rotarians and Lions want to donate a three-sided clock to the town. It’s the committee’s hope that the clock sits somewhere on Emery Park. This clock …

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About Town

About Town: Town Manager Tuesday

FBI, AAA – or not – and one big conversation …

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is in Lexington – actually in our Massachusetts Avenue police station. Captain Manuel Ferro (also known as Manny) graduated from the FBI’s National Academy on Sept. 16, 2011. Town Manager Carl Valente made the announcement at last night’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting and in a private email to Patch. “Police leaders from around the world are invited by the regional offices of the FBI to attend this program in Quantico, VA,” Carl said. “The 10-week program is the pinnacle of training experiences for law enforcement officials.” While in the program, attendees review the latest in police service and sciences. "They challenge each student with graduate school courses (University of Virginia); and provide an …

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About Town

About Town: Talking About a Celebration

Help Plan Lexington 300th.

Please join the Lexington 300th Anniversary Celebration Committee’s public meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Maria Hastings Elementary School cafeteria at 7 Crosby Road. We’ll be talking about our upcoming 300th anniversary, which occurs in 2013. The village started as Cambridge Farms in the mid-1600s. We twice petitioned Cambridge to allow separation. Finally, that third attempt was successful and we became Lexington in March of 1713. The 300th committee, a sub-committee of Town Celebrations, was created to honor this notable event with a nine-month party that starts in 2012 and ends in May of 2013. “We are all anticipating a wonderful, uplifting community celebration with many activities and programs,” Lexington 300th Chair Susan Rockwell…

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